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Lil'e Ratty's new locomotive, Whillan BeckRavenglass and Eskdale railway, with Graham

Author	Post

Posted by Robert: Thu Jul 5th, 2018 01:47

1^st Post

Had the pleasure of working with Graham yesterday taking stills to illustrate his latest railway video of the local narrow (15") gauge railway.

We also experimented with my tiny (about 30mm cube) Go-Pro Hero Session camera which with a powerful magnetic base was stuck to the front of the new 'train from Spain' a new acquisition this year which has been named 'Whillan Beck' in keeping with the tradition of using names of rivers in the Eskdale valley.

http://rerps.co.uk/locomotive/whillan-beck/

I plan to post a series of photographs here from the project but I am back up to Ravenglass shortly to get some more stills and maybe another video with the Go-Pro.

This is Graham, recording the arrival of 'Northern Rock' at Dalegarth station at the head of the Eskdale valley.

Taken with D3 and 24-120 f4 lens.

____________________
Robert.

Posted by jk: Thu Jul 5th, 2018 13:34

2^nd Post

Good capture.
That rare Graham Whistler bird and the fine puffing billy train.

Look forward to seeing more.

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Still learning after all these years!
https://nikondslr.uk/gallery_view.php?user=2&folderid=none

Posted by Robert: Thu Jul 5th, 2018 20:28

3^rd Post

Thank you JK, just this minute back from Ravenglass.

I think we have it in the bag, Graham only has a few minor clips to record tomorrow. I have had great fun with the Go-Pro, this morning I sought permission to place the little camera on the track between the rails, stuck down with the magnet to some convenient steel anchorage on a sleeper. We have viewed the results and it's quite spectacular, with the engine and the entire train passing over the little Go-Pro.

This evening I have been taking a time-lapse of the sunset and I intended to make a star trail photo above the tracks, they point almost exactly North as they leave Ravenglass. I had to abandon my plans for the star trails because of security lights which kept coming on which ruined the otherwise excellent image.

Will try to post some more images tomorrow.

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Robert.

Posted by Robert: Sat Jul 7th, 2018 18:41

4^th Post

Having spent two full days processing, I have processed most of the usable images for Graham, having done the important bit I have been having some fun...

As I mentioned, the security light was a pain in the bum, came on for a while then went off etc. I was determined to produce a star trails picture so I had to resort to trickery. Believe me it would have been easier to have shot it than to process it via Ps.

This is the burnt out security lights shot... Useless!

This is the sunset shot:

Spot Graham time!

These are a couple more pix from day two:

Grahams first ride on the Whillan Beck Locomotive footplate.

After a hard days filming:

This is my attempt to produce a star trail picture despite pesky security lights.

____________________
Robert.

Posted by Robert: Sat Jul 7th, 2018 19:16

5^th Post

Just as point of interest... My spelling of Lil'e Ratty differs from the 'official' spelling which is La'al Ratty.

Coming from what was North Lancashire but is now South Cumbria, Lil'e means little or small, the pronunciation in West Cumbria (formally Cumberland) dialect is much broader and I believe the West Cumbria spelling reflects the dialect.

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Robert.

Posted by Graham Whistler: Sun Jul 8th, 2018 03:02

6^th Post

Thank you Robert for all your help I hope you enjoyer your two days with me on The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway. This is a quick snap I did of you fitting your GoPro to the fromt of the new loco to film the whole 7 mile journey in both directions. This will give super cut-away footage for our new film.

Attachment: _DSC0277.jpg (Downloaded 51 times)

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Graham Whistler

Posted by Graham Whistler: Sun Jul 8th, 2018 03:05

7^th Post

Robert track side on the railway with senior driver Peter van Zeller and long term friend of GWP. This is my only D500 image as I was too busy all week making GWP's new film to be published ASAP in time for the railway's main summer season.

Attachment: Robert.jpg (Downloaded 46 times)

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Graham Whistler

Posted by jk: Sun Jul 8th, 2018 03:48

8^th Post

Super shots from you both. Nice to see the D3 being worn again.

____________________
Still learning after all these years!
https://nikondslr.uk/gallery_view.php?user=2&folderid=none

Posted by Robert: Sun Jul 8th, 2018 05:13

9^th Post

Graham Whistler wrote:
Thank you Robert for all your help I hope you enjoyed your two days with me on The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway. This is a quick snap I did of you fitting your GoPro to the fromt of the new loco to film the whole 7 mile journey in both directions. This will give super cut-away footage for our new film.
It was a pleasure Graham, hard work, constantly looking for that 'something different' but I think we succeeded with the Go-Pro idea and when you see my stills, I hope there will be something among them which is useful.

I am currently assembling a sunset time-lapse of the gantry with plenty of space for credits or some such.

____________________
Robert.

Posted by Robert: Sun Jul 8th, 2018 05:19

10^th Post

Graham Whistler wrote:
Robert track side on the railway with senior driver Peter van Zeller and long term friend of GWP. This is my only D500 image as I was too busy all week making GWP's new film to be published ASAP in time for the railway's main summer season.
It was good to meet Peter and work with him on the video, I am sure this video will be at least as popular as your previous ones.

I have some way to go before I grow my beard to Peters standard!

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Robert.

Posted by Robert: Sun Jul 8th, 2018 05:29

11^th Post

jk wrote:
Super shots from you both. Nice to see the D3 being worn again.
Thanks JK, the D3 is a dream camera, I carried both for the entire two days to give me that bit more flexibility and a backup.

I took roughly 450 stills each day, very little bracketing, due to the mobile nature of the subjects. Going through the images only 3 from the D300S made the grade. That compares with 78 images from the D3 which I have picked and processed to submit to Graham for weeding, hopefully some will be useful.

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Robert.

Posted by Graham Whistler: Sun Jul 8th, 2018 06:49

12^th Post

Robert my video footage is spot on as is your GoPro and Chris's drone footage is to die for so no problems from any of us that were in the team, that you were part of.
We will have a super new GWP DVD/BluRay Film thanks to all.
PS Robert liked the railway so much that he has signed up to work part time in the engineering workshops!

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Graham Whistler

Posted by Eric: Sun Jul 8th, 2018 11:48

13^th Post

Excellent work from both of you gentlemen! Well done!

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Eric

Posted by Graham Whistler: Mon Jul 9th, 2018 05:17

14^th Post

Here is one of my Video still frames from my Pro 4K Sony Camcorder from my footplate filming trip. Robert also had GoPro on front of loco and Chris Munn was drone filming for us. We all got stunning images in the super weather.

Passing Northern Rock from the footplate of "The Train from Spain" and Irton Road on the R&ER Cumbria.

Attachment: RER18-00037.jpg (Downloaded 41 times)

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Graham Whistler

Posted by Robert: Mon Jul 9th, 2018 05:45

15^th Post

Without getting too technical I think one of the reasons the D3 did so well was because of it's lower but adequate pixel count. Your frame shows 'Northern Rock' rocking! there is considerable movement in these railways, rocking and shaking to some degree, the higher the definition the more it shows in the image.

Steady-cam and VR can only steady the image in the camera, if the subject is moving too, one has a problem. That's one reason why the D300S images were nearly all rejected, due to subject movement causing unsharp images. The D3 and D300S both have similar pixel counts per image but the D300S is effectively denser per frame due the the smaller sensor, therefore it's 'fussier' about subject movement.

At one stage I upped the ISO a bit to raise my shutter speed @f/8 which I felt I needed, to get reasonable DoF. If I did it again I would just use the D3 (no D300S but maybe a second, wider lens in my pocket instead) in M, 1/500Sec @ f/8 with auto ISO and fairly wide limits. With the D3 the noise penalty would be preferable to movement blur or loss of DoF.

I am looking forward to watching the Go-Pro output, I had a very quick look at the first batch but I want to watch it right through. Right now I am mining bricks and making some track rollers for a friends digger. o.O

____________________
Robert.

Posted by Graham Whistler: Wed Jul 11th, 2018 09:40

16^th Post

Here is cover with largly Robert's D3X Pixs. Nicholas Owen of BBC has just agreed to do the voice over for us this will be his 4th for GWP, all good news.

Attachment: RER Will Beck 2018 dvd cover.jpg (Downloaded 34 times)

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Graham Whistler

Posted by Squarerigger: Fri Jul 13th, 2018 14:20

17^th Post

Wow! Wonderful pictures. Very nice of you to share, that new steam locomotive is well done.

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Gary

Posted by Graham Whistler: Sat Aug 11th, 2018 10:59

18^th Post

The new Film is out today and looking good. Robert a DVD with our thanks for all your help is in post today, hope you enjoy it. I think you will be please with how we have used your GoPro footage.

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Graham Whistler

Posted by Robert: Sat Aug 11th, 2018 13:19

19^th Post

Thanks Graham.

Am away right now, got your message this morning but been hectic.

Building up for a trip North, Logan Gardens, Ranoch Moor then Skye.

Hopefully the Fairy Pools in Glen Brittle and the needles of The Storr and The Quiraing. Maybe some star trails are possible if the weather is kind and security lights allow. ðŸ˜‰

Posted from my iPhone ðŸ˜€

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Robert.

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